President Obama, in his State of the Union address last week, proposed "that we take $30 billion of the money Wall Street banks have repaid and use it to help community banks give small businesses the credit they need to stay afloat."

The White House has yet to issue details on the proposal.

According to The Hill, a newspaper covering Congress, the Independent Community Bankers of America, the primary group representing small banks, was among the most successful lobbying organizations in 2009.

The group "helped secure a carve-out from examinations under the new Consumer Financial Protection Agency and an exemption from paying into a new industry fund to cover costs if the government takes over a failing financial firm," The Hill wrote.